At my job, I get ice from the icemaker in the kitchen and carry it to the freezer in the breakroom. I actually load up the fruit drawer because it is never used. No matter the temperature, when I go later to use the ice, it has all frozen together.

So what would you do? I take the large spoon I use to scoop the ice and start chipping away at it. Ice flies everywhere and it takes a long time.

Then one day, I used a butter knife. It slipped through the ice and broke it up into useable pieces.

That was a lesson for me.  Sometimes you use the right tool.  Gentle is the way to go. A hammer is a quick solution but rarely the good one.

Or maybe I am reading to much into this.